Frequently Asked Questions

Streaming

How do I get my camera connected to IPCamLive?

First you need stable Internet connection with a sufficient upload bandwidth. Typical bandwidth of a
standard IP camera is 1Mbps but in order to stream HD quality 2-4Mbps is needed.

You can stream your IP Camera directly without additional PC or software using IPCamLive. All you
need is to be able to access your camera online.

How do I get my IP camera accessible from the Internet?

IP cameras use the RTSP real-time video streaming protocol for streaming the video. This protocol
uses port 554, so a port forward/virtual server for this port has to be set up on the router.

If you have multiple cameras, you can increase the external port one by one.

Once the router has been set up, the video stream of the camera can be accessed at the URL below:

Camera 1: rtsp://externapip:554

Camera 2: rtsp://externapip:555

How can I find the right RTSP URI for my IP camera?

As IP cameras have multiple encoders, they can provide various streams (with differing
resolution, compression, frame rate, etc). When connecting to the camera, the stream we want to
receive has to be addressed using the proper URI. For example: rstp://ip/primary is the primary
(e.g. native resolution) video stream and rstp://ip/primary is the secondary (e.g. low
resolution) video stream.

Fortunately, there is a standard for IP Cameras called ONVIF and the RTSP URIs of the streams
can be identified by means of ONVIF. IPCamLive has direct ONVIF support which means that you can
determine the RTSP URL using IPCamLive’s ONVIF Discovery tool. Just enter the IP address and the
web port of your camera and the streams supported by your camera will be displayed.

Unfortunately, older camera models do not support ONVIF protocol. In this case to find the proper
URL is not is not easy. First check the camera installation manual. If this information is not found
in the manual, go online and try finding this in one of the forums discussing the RTSP URI for
the camera (e.g. great list here).

My video is broken or stops or legs at times. What should I do?

IP cameras send the video stream in a preconfigured bandwidth, so it's really important to set
up the cameras based on the available bandwidth.

First check the available UPLOAD bandwidth. There are a lot of useful websites (e.g.
speedtest.net) so it is really easy to measure it. This is key information because the camera
has to be configured for less bandwidth than available.

Take into account that the bandwidth is not constant, which means sometimes the available
bandwidth may drop. Consequently, the camera should be configured to a bandwidth level that is
reliably available. Typically, this would be half of the upload bandwidth measured, but
sometimes even as low as 1/4 or 1/8 to achieve stable video.

Keep in mind that reducing the bandwidth beyond a certain level may result in bad image quality.

The image quality is not satisfactory. How can I improve it?

If the quality is inadequate, increase the bandwidth of the camera if possible.

If not possible, try reducing the resolution because streaming high resolution at low bandwidth is
likely to result in poor image quality. Alternatively try reducing the frame rate.

What video compressions are supported by IPCamLive?

IPCamLive supports most of the video compressions supported by the IP cameras: MJPEG, MPEG4 and H.264.

What compression format is recommended? How to configure my camera?

Compression method is the key factor in terms of bandwidth. The still image video compression
(MJPEG) requires high bandwidth while H.264 requires only low bandwidth to transfer the same video.

What is the recommended bandwidth? How to configure my camera?

The recommended bandwidth depends on the resolution and the frame rate:

Resolution

Bandwidth*

VGA - 640x480@12fps

0.3mbps

VGA - 640x480@25fps

0.4mbps

D1 - 704x576@12fps

0.5mbps

D1 - 704x576@25fps

0.6mbps

HD - 1280x720@12fps

1mbps

HD - 1280x720@25fps

1.5mbps

FHD - 1920x1080@12fps

2mbps

FHD - 1920x1080@25fps

3mbps

* Using H.264 video compression

What is the maximum stream resolution from the camera which is supported by IPCamLive?

Most of the devices/browsers/players are not capable to display higher resolution than 1920x1080,
therefore the maximum supported resolution of the incoming video stream is Full HD.

Is there a bandwidth limit on my camera stream?

We set a bandwidth limit on our servers at 6 mbps, to prevent using too much bandwidth. Using too much bandwidth
will slow down your connection, so this limit is for your own good. Also, to stream in full HD 3 mbps is more than enough.
In case you get an error message about using too much bandwidth, you need to reduce the bandwidth by configuring your camera.

What IP addresses to whitelist on my firewall?

We have several servers around the world and your camera is connected automatically from the best server available. We can
lock your account to a dedicated server and in this case you can add the IP address of the given server to yoru firewall. Please contact
our support team and we will assist you.

Why is my stream not starting?

In case your stream does not start, first please check if the port-forwarding on your router is working fine. You can find a
great tool to verify the port opened here. In case
you incounter any difficulties, please contact us the support team and we will help.

What is IPCamLive Camera Streaming Application (ICSA)?

ICSA is a camera side application that runs on your camera. Using this app your camera automatically connects to IPCamLive.com and
sends the live stream to the cloud servers. This means that you can stream your camera without any network configuration or the
need for static IP address. You can find more info about ICSA here.

Do you have snapshot function?

Yes, we have a snapshot function, so you can always put a recent image on your site. The following link always gives the current
snapshot JPEG file of the selected camera: https://ipcamlive.com/player/snapshot.php?alias=examplealias. Just simply replace the alias to your alias.

What is camera public page?

Every camera registered to IPCamLive has a dedicated page where the live video is displayed. This page is public which means that
it's available for anyone who knows this link. This page is ideal for sharing the live video to others. You can find the URL of
the public page on the Code Snippet page of your camera. You can disable this public package by checking the Disable
camera direct link option on the settings page of your camera.

Time-lapse

What is time-lapse?

Time-lapse photography is a technique whereby the frequency at which film frames are captured (the frame rate) is much lower than that used to
view the sequence. When played at normal speed, time appears to be moving faster and thus lapsing. You can find more info here.

How IPCamLive produces time-lapse clips?

We offer 2 time-lapse modes: Daily mode and Infinite long mode.

In Daily mode we take a frame every two minutes from the live video stream and produce separate time-lapse clips every day.

In Infinite long mode we produce only 1 time-lapse clip and we take only 1 frame per day. We take this frame at the same time every day
in order to get the same picture (e.g. shadows from the same direction). To get smoother image we apply motion and light compensation and
generate extra frames between the real frames.

Please note that it takes some time to produce the first clip to be played. In Day mode we need an hour but in Long mode we need
8 days to produce the first clip to be played.

Are time-lapse clips deleted?

We store every time-lapse daily clip on our servers for 1 months. Any daily clip that is older than one months will be removed from our server.
However the Infinite long time-lapse clip is stored on our server as long as you are using our service.

Is there an API for integration?

Yes, we have a very useful and handy API. Using this API you can intergrate our service to your application. You can download the whole API documentation here.

Packages, pricing and payment

What is the difference between service types?

IPCamLive provides various packages. We offer three different packages. Basic package is free, Standard and Professional are
paying packages. Different packages offer different features. You can see more information about features and packages and pricing here.

What package is neccessary for embedding the video into my web page?

If you would like to publish the live video on your website then Standard or Professional package is necessary.

How can I upgrade to Standard or Professional package?

You can select a package for every single camera. You can change the package any time on the setting page of the camera.

Post payment / pre-payment

We provide pay-as-you-go service. This means that you will be invoiced at the beginning of each month based on the services we provided during the previous month.

Additional option is prepayment. The advantage of using this option is that we provide 5% discount for 6 months or 10% for 12 months in advance payment.
You can make prepayment any time here.

Can I pay by ...?

Basic payment method is PayPal, where you can use any credit or debit card easily, without registration. We also accept direct bank transfer for prepayments.

About Us

Using IPCamLive you can easily share your IP camera's live stream on the web